Derek Semmence

Derek John Semmence (20 April 1938 – 29 March 2020) was an English cricketer.[1] Semmence was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in Worthing, Sussex.

Semmence made his first-class cricket debut for Sussex County Cricket Club against Warwickshire in the 1956 County Championship. He played first-class cricket for Sussex until 1959.[2] Semmence served in the Royal Air Force in his early years with Sussex, which in 1957 entitled him to play first-class cricket for the Combined Services, firstly against Surrey. He played two further matches for the Combined Services, one in 1957 against Worcestershire and another in 1958 against Warwickshire.[2] Having last played first-class cricket in 1958, Semmence made a single first-class appearance for Essex in 1962 against Oxford University.[3]

In 1964, he joined Devon, making his debut for the county in the 1964 Minor Counties Championship against Berkshire. He played Minor counties cricket for Devon until 1966, making nine appearances.[4] Semmence returned to Sussex in 1967, playing six first-class matches for the county from 1967 to 1968.[2] A somewhat inconsistent batsman at the first-class level, in 35 first-class matches for Sussex he scored 841 runs at a batting average of 15.57, with two half centuries and a single century high score of 108[5] against Nottinghamshire in his debut 1956 season.[6] Semmence was the youngest Sussex player to score a century for the county, a record which remains to this day.

Semmence later played Minor Counties Championship cricket for Northumberland from 1973 to 1974, making 24 appearances.[4] He played a single Minor Counties Championship match for Cambridgeshire in 1976 against Bedfordshire.[4] Semmence was the president of Worthing Cricket Club[7] and previously coached youth cricket for Rajasthan in India.[8]